The Cecil Whig., 1887-06-04
MEMORIAL DAY.

MEMORIAL DAY.
Appropriate Celebrations at Elkton, Cherry
nm, Calvert. North East and Port
Deposit.
Memorial Day or AS it is more popu-
larly termed Decoration Day. was appro-
priately celebrated in several Cecil county
towns. The weather in the afternoon
when the exercises were mostly held was
very pleasant. There was not AS much
interest we are sorry to be compelled to
state taken in the day in Elkton as in
some former years. Our home military
| company, the Groome Guards, would
have done well to have taken this occa
| sion to show our citizens their new uni
forms, and also shown due appreciation of
| the services of the departed soldiers who
| witnessed the stern realities of war, and
| fell in the struggle for freedom and for
their native land. There was no music,
not even drum to remind one of the
martial days of '61 when Cecil county
boys marched valliantly from their homes
to scenes of death and carnage, to inspir-
ing national airs rendered by military
bands.
A number of the members of L. s.
Grant Post, No. 10, q. \. r., gathered in
the morning at the Post room. On the
morning previous they had attended the
Elkton VI E. church and listened to an
eloquent sermon by the Rev J. p. Otis.
Immediately after the services they es-
corted that popular clergyman to the
Post rooms and elected him an honorary
member of their organization.
On Memorial Day they formed in line
at noon and marched to the Elkton Gem
eterY, where they decorated with flags
and flowers the graves of their fallen
comrades. From there they proceeded
to the Presbyterian cemetery where flow
ers were placed ou the grave of brave
man who fell lighting on the Confederate
side, as we'll as the graves of the Union
men. They then proceeded to the ceme-
terry in the rear of the Free Methodist
church and then to the Catholic ceme-
terry which completed the work of love in
this town.
At CHERRY HILL.
The members of the Post drove to
Cherry Hill in the afternoon where they
were reinforced by few veterans of that
place. The Post marched into the NJ. Z.
church where many persons were assem-
bled to witness the exercises which are
held annually in that loyal little town.
The services were opened by the singing
OF hymn 1899 of the Methodist hymnal,
beginning ''Great God, beneath whose
piercing eye,' by the congregation, led
by the ~ T. choir Miss Dollie Miller
presided at tie organ. The Rev. j. p.
| Otis followed in a ferveut and appropriate
prayer. After singing of the hymn My
Country. It's of Thee" on motion of
Comrade, Joseph Cantwell, John E. Viii
son, Esq, of the Elkton bar, a past COM
mander of the Post, was called to the
chair. Mr.. Wilson on taking the chair
made a short address. He said the OBJ
ject of his speaking was to influence the
young persons present to perpetuate the
occasion which called them together. For
this purpose he related the history of
two flags. One was the account of the
effort of the lst Maryland Federal regi-
Ln,r faila1 Tho otbar p,r,
was that which the Sixth Maryland Vol
uuteers carried through the war. This
regiment was largely recruited from this
county, which furnished it two command.
ers. The flag mentioned was made by
the ladies of Cecil, the $3.50 that it cost
being raised by holding fairs. This his
and had been carried by Comrade George
Davis in the days wanderngs through
the cemeteries. NJ .ssrS. Wilson and
Davis exhibited it to the audience A
shell had passed through it, as well as
forty bullets.
The chairman at the conclusion of his
remarks called on the Rev. J. p. Otis for
speech. The reverend gentleman hav-
ing preached to the Post the day previous
had no idea that he would be called upon
to make an address. He was in attend
ance as an honorary member of the Post
and thought the boys had prepared an
ambuscade for him. They hal out
fianked and captured him aud he would
have to make the best of it. He spoke
but short time but in such pleas
ing manner as to be greeted with ap
plause. The speaker was an Orange
county, New York, boy when the war
broke cut, too young to fight, but old
enough to appreciate and sympathlze
with those tina: did. He remembered
well how his blood was stirred by the
newspaper report that Fort Sumpter had
! been fired on and related graphically how
| his heart was fired by the martial scenes
! that We're going on around him, as when
| the Tenth Legion composed of Orange
county boys left home for the scenes of
the war, and during the great riot of '63
III New York city.
The speaker said there was spot on
old Cherry Hill that in the memory of
those that served in the war would re-
main sacred, for it is the place that holds
the dust of the old Chaplain, Joseph
Brown, who prayed with and preached
| for them, not only in camp but in the
dark days in Libby Prison. His inter-
meut at Cherry Hill made it Mecca to
which the men that he helped and be-
friended will come. God bless his mem
ory, not only that he marched with the
soldiers TO battle for the right but that
he led them to Christ.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Otis remarks
the chairman introduced the Rev. 7. A.
II. O'Brieu pastor of Cherry Hill and
Union churches. lie was introduced as
| a man who had resided in the South dur
| ing the war and therefor had view of
the conflict from Il different stand-p point
than any of the other persons present
He delivered a very ioroible and able ad-
Cherry Hill would be honored long after
the veterans present were dead. His
brother Otis looked at the conflict at one
end of the territory and he at the other.
His home was in Tennessee during the
war. The state of Tennessee furnished